Little pretty about this 'W'

Dave van DyckTribune staff reporter

It wasn't one of last year's Instant Classics.

In fact, it was neither instant nor unforgettable.

But for the White Sox, it was an 8-6 victory over Texas that broke a four-game losing streak and kept them from falling 3½ games behind the Tigers, who visit U.S. Cellular Field for a three-game series starting Tuesday.

It also wasn't easy for the sellout crowd of 38,697 to endure for more than three hours. The Sox nearly blew an 8-2 lead after four innings, thanks to another long outing by starter Javier Vazquez and some leaky relief pitching by Neal Cotts and Cliff Politte.

Vazquez threw 115 pitches in just 61/3 innings, although he left with an 8-5 lead. For Vazquez, it was more of the same.

He has failed to complete seven innings in seven of his 11 starts, almost all of them because his pitch count was so high he had to be removed. That puts a burden on the bullpen.

"Not on my ballclub," he said. "Maybe somewhere else they let them throw 130-140 [pitches]. My ballclub, no, because they have futures and second, because we expect to win this thing and third, I expect to be in the playoffs.

"If I want to be in the playoffs, I have to take care of those guys. Hopefully they will throw [fewer] pitches and more innings."

Until they do, Guillen will have the same problems trying to mix and match his bullpen with the innings workload. He used four relievers to complete the game, even giving the ball to Bobby Jenks for the last out in the eighth.

Vazquez allowed the Rangers 11 hits in giving up five runs, while the Sox scored eight on nine hits in the same stretch. He retired the side in order only once.

Nonetheless, Vazquez raised his record to 7-3, partly because he has the second-best run support in the league, almost nine runs per start.

The Sox gave Vazquez a 1-0 lead in the first on a double by Tadahito Iguchi and Paul Konerko's single that hit second base.

But Vazquez struggled through a miserable third inning and was fortunate to come out with only a 2-1 deficit. The first three batters singled in front of a bases-loaded walk to Mark Teixeira and Hank Blalock's RBI single.

Vazquez got the next three hitters but by then his pitch count was at 53, about half of what should be a game total.

After a one-two-three fourth for Vazquez, the Sox peppered Texas starter Vincente Padilla and reliever Joaquin Benoit for seven runs on four singles, two doubles and a pair of walks.

And Vazquez needed almost all those runs, giving the Rangers three runs in the fifth inning as the first four batters singled.

For the Sox, who lead the league in home runs, it was a night when they went back to scoring runs without the long ball. It was also their second straight night without DH Jim Thome, who leads the Sox with 45 runs.

"Maybe last year we hit home runs, but we still hit-and-run and bunted and moved the guy over," Guillen said. "That's the reason we won, not because of the home run. We won because of the little things we did right."